And love, the shoreline, where you & I meet.

Considering it is now essentially Spring, I am rather unimpressed by the weather.  It is consistently cold, drizzly & grey.  Where's the sunshine for pity sake!

To raise my spirits, my friend Amy came down for a visit yesterday afternoon.  I haven't seen her since I left London & so it was really nice to catch up.

We headed over to The Greedy Cow Deli & I finally got to try their pulled pork burger.  I was super naughty & got it topped with cheese & bacon.  Is it weird to have bacon on top of pulled pork?  It tasted darn good though!

I love The Greedy Cow, it's so cute & inviting.

We picked up a few cakes for after.  I got a custard cream cheesecake, which was quite dense, but super yummy.

After stuffing ourselves silly, we went for a little walk around town & popped into a few of the vintage shops.  Amy was determined to spend some pennies, so she ended up purchasing a little vintage gold clutch bag.  I fell in love with a metal carousel horse that had been turned into a light.  If I had high enough ceilings, I would have snapped it up!

 

Later we headed over to The Turner Gallery & saw the Maria Nepomuceno exhibition, which consisted of over-sized beads, woven straw, string & rope.  You were encouraged to pop on some rather fetching blue plastic bags on your feet & play amongst it.  I politely declined.  We also saw the Carl Andre, Mass & Matter exhibition & got told off for touching the 'sculptures'.  [yawn]

Overall it was a really nice day, despite the shoddy weather.

x

Leonardo Da Vinci At The National Gallery

After five years of careful planning, nine pieces of Da Vinci's work has made its way from across the globe to London, to hang together for the first, & possibly the last, time.  Among them to be shown are 'Virgin of the Rocks', 'The Madonna Litta', 'The Last Supper' & 'The Lady with an Ermine'.

London's National Gallery will be showcasing the paintings up until the 5th of February & all online pre-sale tickets have already sold out!

I have only managed to see Da Vinci's Mona Lisa up close & personal, at the Louvre in Paris, so I for one am exceedingly excited about this collective & shall be ensuring my visit to go see these masterpieces, before the exhibition closes & the paintings are transported back to their original homes.

Visitation Rights

My dear friend Lucy came down for a visit today, as my 'Nando's Leaving The Country For A While Do' got canceled on Saturday.  We went into the old part of town (the only part of town one should ever venture into), had lunch at The Greedy Cow, spied on the cupcakes at The Cupcake Cafe & mooched around the various vintage shops.

In fact the old part of town has a multitude of vintage shops!  We went into one which had a vintage YSL mac, it was only £12!  But it wasn't the nicest & had a mark on it, so I passed.  But the other place on the corner I love, had some really nice pieces, but alas, I have no dollar to spend on such frivolities.

We also ventured to the Turner Gallery.  I went for the first time on Friday with my friend Jason, who also came for a visit last week.  Heck might as well go as many times as possible as it's FREE!

I didn't take any snaps the first time, as I wasn't sure if I was allowed to.  Didn't want to be uncouth.  But Lucy checked & apparently it is perfectly acceptable. 

Thankfully, unlike Friday, the weather held up today.  It was lovingly sunny & warm & the smell of seaweed was high in the air!

Overall a really lovely day.

Thank you Lady Rawlinson for your visit.

Mr Piggles misses you already.

x

Love Affair

In some randomness, that always exists in my life, I actually shed tears whilst reading an article on Tracey Emin in the June issue of Vogue.  It was simply pages of short paragraphs on her by her friends, followed by a Q&A with Emin herself.

I have to say, I've not always been a big fan of Emin.  In fact, I have always been rather dismissive of her work.  But after reading the article & the interview with her, I think I have a new love affair blooming.

Charlotte Sinclair: "What do you hope for in the future?

Emin:  "That cats live forever.  That I can have the patience to learn French.  And that I can fall in love with someone who really loves me, who would go to the end of the world for me."

Tears were especially shed when she described waking up in tears, missing her father, who died just last year.  Mine died over a year ago now & I still cry myself to sleep from time to time.  It's always the missing that hurts the most.

I feel we may have more in common than first thought!  Except, I'd rather dogs live forever.

Emin also recently came to my area to open the Turner Contemporary art gallery in town & I feel it may be time to go for a visit.  Refresh my artistic knowledge.